Abstract
Gallium (Ga) displays several metastable phases. Superconductivity is strongly enhanced in the metastable -Ga with a critical temperature , while stable -Ga has a much lower . Here we use a membrane-based nanocalorimeter to initiate the transition from -Ga to -Ga on demand, as well as study the specific heat of the two phases on one and the same sample. The in situ transformation is initiated by bringing the temperature to about above the melting temperature of -Ga. After such treatment, the liquid supercools down to , where -Ga solidifies. We find that -Ga is a strong-coupling type-I superconductor with and a Sommerfeld coefficient , 2.55 times higher than that in the phase. The results allow a detailed comparison of fundamental thermodynamic properties between the two phases.
- Received 10 December 2017
- Revised 15 May 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.97.184517
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